Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The report of Dave's death I received was apparently mistaken. I had been told by someone who had worked with Dave in recent years that Dave had passed away earlier today, but this seems not to be the case. He is currently in a hospice where he is being cared for at this time.

I am both glad to hear that Dave is not dead, as I was led to believe, and rather mortified at my having posted this information before it had been confirmed by a second source. I had no reason to doubt my original source, given his close proximity to Dave, but apparently I should have.

My apologies to everyone to whom my post has caused distress. I can't begin to describe how embarrassed I feel right now, particularly since I should have known better.

Sad and just as embarrassed that I followed you right off the cliff. That'll teach me. *sigh*

The most important thing is that his family is taking care of him and he has a lot of family and friends who are sending him love and good energy. That's all we can do. I'm glad the family has a thread up on ODD that we can watch for the time being.

Believe me, I am not at all happy about this. I only made a post about it, because I'd been told by someone I trust implicitly and who actually does have a connection to Dave that he had passed away. I am trying to find out just what happened.

@Jonathan Holt: Dave's page on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson ) was locked as "standard practice" whilst awaiting formal confirmation.Could still do with more quality, neutral-point-of-view information, sources, etc., however, to ensure Dave's contributions to various fields are clearly stated there. (I've copyedited some of the worst of the mess, but there's still plenty to do).

Don't blame yourself, James. We've all been expecting this bad news, and it's all too easy to believe. I have a mutual friend with Dave, and when she vanished today on zero notice, I assumed the worst.

Seems like it's just one of those days for lots of folks. But maybe it is for the best that this happened. The premature news of his death has, I think, prompted many to reflect on the monumentality of his contributions to the hobby and brought him out of Gygax's shadow, as your own post did. That he's still alive to hear the outpouring of well-wishes and "thank yous" is perhaps a silver lining on all this.

Even so, I should have been less credulous than I was. Given how many people seem to pay attention to what I say, I have a responsibility to double-check my sources, regardless of who they are. I am still very much at fault.

I understand, I myself placed info form your blog on Polish site (Digg-like), but quickly added those false infos from dnd4.com and RPGNet - it's bigger picture and still don't know what to think of such (not yours) guys from "Very Large Game Companies" and posts like this on dnd4.com.

Anyway, heads up, Dave is alive and this is most important thing for us right now. Fight on & Wish Him Best!

1) He is not out of the woods yet, so let's just pray he can get through this hard time.

2) If he chooses to be more open, he will. If he wants to remain private and not talk a lot, he will. We should not push our wishes on him. (And keep in mind there is still stuff he can't discuss legally).

My first game of D&D was with the original wood grain box set and Dave Arneson's First Fantasy Campaign. I still have the character sheet for my first PC; Trey, True Born Knight of Blackmoore. I am forever in Mr. Arneson's debt for creating the inspirational material that set me on the path of a truly enjoyable life long hobby.

Follow Grognardia

Grognardia Games, Dwimmermount, the Grognardia logo, and the Dwimmermount logo are trademarks of James Maliszewski. Tékumel is a trademark of M.A.R. Barker and is used with permission of the Tékumel Foundation. For additional information, please visit www.tekumelfoundation.org